The ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign highlights the positive impact that moving to local Gift Cards can have for communities across the country and features employers including Waterford’s Cantec, Macroom’s The Castle Hotel and Sligo Park Hotel.
Cantec made the switch to using digital Town & City Gift Cards for its 65+ strong team based on where each employee lives, primarily in Waterford but also in Limerick, Kilkenny, Drogheda and Ballinrobe. The Castle Hotel moved to the Grá Macroom Gift Card for their staff Christmas rewards, while Sligo Park switched to using the Love Sligo Gift Card in its staff recognition program.
The ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign aligns to new 2026 research in Ireland from Miconex showing a changing employee rewards landscape, with choice, ease and support for local key for employees and organisations.
In the research, 86% of Irish organisations have changed some aspect of their rewards and incentives over the past 12 months, with 56% citing changing employee needs. 99% of organisations said supporting local is important and 94% said CSR has become more important to their organisation over the past 12 months.
Following the increases in the Small Benefit Exemption to €1,500 across 5 non-cash gifts, 92% of firms have increased the amount given to staff using the initiative in 2026, and 79% have increased the number of uses. Perhaps reflecting the enhanced rewards landscape in Ireland, 37% of Irish employees think their employers could improve their reward and incentive offering, far lower than the UK at 65%.
From an employee perspective, 98% said it is important that the organisation they work for supports local businesses, up from 94% in 2025. In addition, 100% of Irish employees said having choice in their rewards and incentives was important, an increase from the 89% who said this in 2025, showing an enhanced desire from employees for rewards offering choice.
98% of Irish employees said they would like to receive a Gift Card from work for Christmas which can be spent with local and national independent businesses, and 97% said receiving a Gift Card at Christmas would boost their motivation.
Town & City Gift Cards are local Gift Cards for towns and cities across Ireland, with over 16 active programs and more launching in 2026. The cards can be spent with shops, restaurants, salons, attractions and services in the town or city they’re branded to, ring-fencing spend to local economies.
Cantec Group is a family-owned managed print service provider founded in Waterford over 30 years ago, with technicians based across Ireland.
Éadaoin Carrick, executive chairperson of Cantec Group, said: “We typically spend around €25,000 on tax free rewards for employees each year. We made the decision to try and keep the spend in the local economy, and in Ireland, by choosing Town & City Gift Cards for each employee based on where they live, primarily for Waterford where we are based, but also for Limerick, Kilkenny, Drogheda and Ballinrobe. The whole reason to give local Gift Cards is to keep the money local. And depending on how many of the cards you support, you can keep money in your hyper local community, in your region or in Ireland overall. Local people benefit when you support local.”
The Castle Hotel is a four star hotel with 56 bedrooms and a leisure club and moved to using Town & City Gift Cards for staff Christmas rewards. Manager, Rory Buckley, said:
“We made the switch to the Grá Macroom to ensure the €13,000 we spent on staff rewards stayed locked into Macroom and neighbouring villages. As the Grá Macroom Gift Card is eligible for the Small Benefit Exemption, we were able to gift staff up to €1,500 tax free. And there was a good mix of businesses for our staff to spend with, including retail, hospitality and leisure. We opted for physical cards because we wanted a gift that we could physically hand over at Christmas. Ordering the cards was a very smooth process, and it’s great knowing that the money we’ve invested in our staff is going to keep circulating in the local economy.”
Sligo Park Hotel and leisure club is a family owned hotel located on the Wild Atlantic Way, close to Sligo town, with 136 bedrooms. They used the Love Sligo Gift Card in their reward and recognition program aimed at celebrating exceptional service.
Mary Halton, HR Manager at Sligo Park Hotel, said: “As a family-owned business, we prioritise buying local whenever possible, and providing the Love Sligo Gift Card to our staff further motivates them to explore Sligo’s diverse offerings. It invites them to discover new businesses they may not have visited before, fostering a sense of community and loyalty. This simple act not only enriches their experience but also contributes to the sustainability of local entrepreneurs. It simply makes sense to motivate your team to spend their rewards locally.”
Colin Munro, CEO of Miconex, said: “We’ve launched our ‘Choose local. Make the switch’ campaign in Ireland to highlight the huge impact that moving to local Gift Cards can have on our communities, bringing people through the door of local businesses with money to spend.
“In our 2026 research, 68% of Irish employees said they’d made a specific visit into the town or city to spend their Town & City Gift Card, and 64% used it to try a business they’d never visited before. In addition, 82% say they spend over and above the Gift Card value on redemption. Our cards drive footfall, spend and business discovery, which is invaluable to our business communities. I encourage all organisations to consider making a simple switch to local rewards this Christmas to give a powerful boost to our communities.”